Adventure and Photography – Passion for the Outdoors

Jasper Village Wildlife

Jasper, Alberta One of my favourite things about Jasper is the wildlife. Jasper has a more relaxed atmosphere and less tourists than Banff and Lake Louise and this might be one of the reasons the animals feel comfortable close to the village. We always see big horn sheep or elk close to the downtown streets and our latest visit mid-February was no exception.

Elk in sunset in Jasper

A small herd of elk feeding

We spotted the herd of elk about 100 meters away from the road and I pulled out my camera. The pictures are taken just outside the village of Jasper, you can see the power lines in the background on some of the pictures. While I was trying to get some nice pictures of the elk (trying to avoid getting the power line in picture, I was obviously only partially successful) I suddenly heard a howl as two coyotes came close to the herd.

The two coyotes didn’t have a chance to take down any of the healthy elk and after watching the elk for a while decided to move on. The elk clearly noticed the coyotes, but didn’t see them as a threat and continued feeding. The coyotes kept a safe distance to the road so this is the closest I could push it with my telephoto lens (only 300 mm).

Howling coyotes

Two coyotes are closely watching the elk herd

The coyotes realise they don’t have a chance against the elk and move on

The elk is keeping an eye on the coyotes

Should you have any recommendations for a new (reasonably priced!) telephoto lens for my little Olympus OM-D EM-1 I would love to hear about it.

Thanks Jim! I always enjoy taking pictures of wildlife! You never know what will happen or what they might do:) And I agree with you, the laid back atmosphere is Jasper is great. A perfect place for some skiing, hiking and relaxation! Did you go to Maligne Lake when you where there? I haven’t been to the lake during winter. yet. It was unfortunately closed due to avalanche danger when we visited last time.
Thanks for commenting!
Inger

Yes, we drove down to the dock for a look. What a perfect place to kayak. We had flown to Canada, so we were kayak-less, but we would love to do that sometime. We did stay on Pyramid Lake, and they had canoes that we used.

Funny story about the wildlife in Jasper: a bartender at a restaurant in town told us about a crowd that had gathered around a bull elk that was in the town square one time, all shooting photos. The elk saw his reflection in a Ford Econoline van and proceeded to ram it repeatedly. The tourists scattered in a hurry! That would have been fun to watch!

We haven’t kayaked Maligne Lake either but seems to be a very popular place to kayak. I believe there are two campground where you can stay overnight at the lake shore. That would be great:)
The elk story sounds amazing …hehe:) Can’t believe it rammed into a car! I am often surprised over how close some of the visitors go the these huge elks! 🙂

Thanks Rob! The coyotes were a fortunate surprise, they were not there when we stopped but showed up after a while. I like the howling picture as well, just wished I had more zoom so I could get a little bit closer! 🙂
Inger

Great Photos. The elk come right into our campground and the rangers have to patrol and keep the bulls away from people. We have seen moose and bears behind Jasper, great place. Tim Horton is a great place to go and get free wifi in Jasper.

Thanks Jim! Yes, seems like the elk doesn’t mind hanging around people. But the bulls can be aggressive, especially during mating season. I am always amazed how close to them some people dear going. They are not small! Thanks for the tip about the free wifi!

Great photos! Seeing those elks made me remember about chamois and Alpine ibex that I used to see walking pretty much freely through the villages where I used to live in the Alps. Between October and November, before the snowfalls and after the departure of the tourists, that was the best moment to see them roaming free just around my house. Good times! Those elks also got me a craving for the classic Alpine staple, polenta & chamois… but that’s another story.

As for lenses… have you checked out Zuiko? They’re the standard lenses for Olympus.

Thank you! I can imagine it would be amazing photographing these in the Alps. But have been great living there? You got me curious about the story behind the Alpine staple, polenta & chamois, I am assuming this is a classic Alpine dish?
I have actually looked at the Zuiko lenses, looking at their website it seems they have some good options. Do you have any experience with the Zuiko lenses, after reading some reviews it seems they are good quality.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and the advise for lenses!
Inger

I have an Oly myself, although not a reflex (but a mirrorless EP-1 with interchangeable optics). I like Zuikos because, being designed for the Olympus, don’t need an adapter and that means that the electronics work (my camera doesn’t have a viewfinder, so all the aiming is done via the LCD screen and being able to judge if the focus is OK or not is a good thing!). All the photos in my blog are done with a Zuiko lens, and I’m contemplating buying a 40-150mm to allow bigger zooms. But, at the end of the day, they are as good as the photographer is and in your case I’m sure that they’ll be great.
As for polenta and chamois… well, polenta is the basic staple of Northern Italian cuisine, people used to die because of the lack of vitamins brought by the exclusive reliance on polenta. Chamois meat isn’t that popular or widespread, at least not as deer or wild hog. But, hey, it’s yummy!

Thanks a lot for your feedback on the Zuiko lenses Fabrizio, I think that is the way we will go as well:) I have been to the northern parts of Italy, but didn’t see polenta and chamois on the menu – but we mainly stuck to the coast, so maybe it more if a mountain meal:) Have a great day!

Excellent photo’s! I love that howling coyote. What I call ‘residential wildlife’ is great: It’s less shy and offers good opportunities for close-up and portrait photography – something that is really hard in other settings. Well done!

Thanks for you generous comment! I was fun to see the coyotes, especially with their short howling display! Jasper is perfect for getting close up of wildlife as they have a lot of ‘residential’ wildlife:)

Thanks for commenting on the photos! The elk is very beautiful, even more so if you find one with large racks of antlers:) But guess there were no males in this heard, or they had lost their antlers already.

Beautiful. Jasper National Park was my favourite part of Canada when I did a cross-country trip many years ago. Saw so much wildlife there, but not any coyotes. They would have been amazing to see. You live in a beautiful part of the world. Would love to go back there one day.

Thank you! Jasper is always stunning, we also love this national park. It’s a jewel:) It is the first time we have seen coyotes in Jasper, so that was quite exciting. We had some friends who went there last weekend and they saw 4 bears. It’s a mekka for wildlife. Did you do Canada from coast to coast? Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

Got as far east as Montreal and as far west as Vancouver Island with various stops in between. Took VIA Rail train across the country. Would love to see the eastern provinces some day but I definitely left my heart in British Columbia & Alberta.

There is so much to see here in Alberta and in BC that we haven’t made it to eastern Canada yet. This is definitely a beautiful place! But we should try and make to the east, I have heard the maritimes are beautiful as well.

Inger & Tor

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